markedblue83

Hello:


I am going on vacation for a total of 5 days. I plan on buying a timer for the light to ensure the same light pattern is kept while i am away.

For feeding, should i:

A. buy a gel/chalk feeder tab
B. buy an automatic feeder machine
C. let the fish fast for 5 days?

I just want to make the right decision, any advice will really be appreciated! Thanks!

Mark

sirdarksol

Welcome to Fishlore, Mark (I don't think I've greeted you before this)
Your fish would do fine fasting for five days, but they don't have to.
If you're not willing to buy a high-price feeding machine, throw that idea out the window. I've heard of the machines having their timers give out, and the machine either stops working altogether or, worse, dumps the entire contents out in one day.
I would avoid the chalk feeder blocks. There seems to be little control in the size of the pellets in the block. Sometime last year, a member lost a fish that had something lodged in its intestines (it's a pretty gruesome story. Just believe me when I say that there is no doubt about this). The member found that the chalk feeder block had little pellets of food that expanded a bit as they got wet.
The gel blocks seem to be better, as they seem to break down into little bits of flaky food, bloodworms, and the like. This is the route I'm going to take if I'm ever gone long enough that I feel like I need to feed my tanks. What I'll do in these cases, however, is buy two of the blocks and dissect one of them to make sure that it doesn't have anything too big for my fish to eat.

COBettaCouple

SDS is right on and I'd either put a gel feeder in or let them fast if you don't have a friend who could come over and feed them.

sirdarksol

If you have a friend feeding the fish, provide them with pre-measured food amounts and explain that if they overfeed the fish, you will drive their car into the local lake. Most people are used to feeding mammalian pets, who eat a lot more for their body size than fish do. Therefore, they end up thinking that the fish need more food than they actually do.

markedblue83

Thanks for all the advice! I will go purchase a gel feeder tonight. :-)